On the 26th of September, we celebrated the musical legacy of composer, Mohammed Zahur Khayyam.
He created timeless music for movies such as Umrao Jaan and Kabhie Kabhie. With a career spanning four decades, many awards have been conferred on him like the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for creative music and the Padma Bhushan. With a career spanning over four decades, Khayyam was an industrial stalwart, and worked with contemporaries in the fields of music and poetry, aligning him with artists such as Mirza Ghalib, Daagh, Nida Fazli and Ahmed Wasi.
A classically Indian style of music grew to integrate aspects of ghazal and sufi, as well as being rich in meaning and complicated composition.
His work stood a class apart from what was common in his time, and he was awarded many accolades such as three Filmfare Awards, a Padma Bhushan and a National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Umrao Jaan.
We presented an evening celebrating his life and work through a talk which was followed by performances. The many fans of Khayyam found their way to Gyaan Adab that evening, to rejoice the man and his life well lived, and to enjoy and sing along to the beautiful performances of his work.
